首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
admin
2009-06-24
70
问题
How many languages are used throughout the world today?
There are over 3,000 languages that are used throughout the world today. Almost all of these languages belong to a much smaller number of language families. All of the languages within a language family are related and all of them have a similar history. Therefore, the grammar, vocabulary, and sounds of related languages are similar. In addition, the way of thinking and the style of talking among related languages is similar.
Even though there are over 3,000 languages that are used today, there are only 20 or 30 major language families.
Let’s take a brief look at some of the largest language families. Each of these large families includes many individual languages. The language that we are using now is English and English is, of course, a member of a large language family. English is a member of the Indo-European language family. The Indo-European language includes most of the languages that are spoken throughout Europe. language such as English, French and Greek. Of course, nowadays, many Indo-European language are spoken in other part of the world. For instance, Spanish, which is an Indo-European language is spoken throughout South and Central America, but originally it was spoken only in Europe.
Another large language family is the Mm-Asiatic family. The Afro-Asiatic family includes most languages in the area of North Africa and the Middle East. Language such as Arabic, which is spoken throughout the Middle East anti many of the local languages of the Sahara Desert region such as Hausa are members of the same family. Another large family is Bantu. Bantu includes most of the languages spoken in central and southern Africa.
In the past few hundred years, there has been a great deal of change in Africa, and outside languages, such as French, are now spoken in some areas of central Africa and southern Africa. A fourth large group of languages is the Sino-Tibetan family. Sino-Tibetan includes all dialects of Chinese, which is perhaps the most widely used language in the world. There are nearly eight hundred million speakers of Chinese dialects. Sino-Tibetan also includes the languages of southeast Asia, languages such as Vietnamese and Thai. Of course, not all the languages of east Asia belong to this family. Some languages such as Japanese seem to be completely unrelated to the Sino-Tibetan family.
Still another major language family is Polynesian. The Polynesian languages are island languages. They are spoken on the islands around Indonesia, and on the many islands eastward all the way to Hawaii, and on the islands west all the way to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. Hawaiian and Indonesian are examples of Polynesian languages. Apparently, these languages were spread by travelers from islands to islands, and then each group of islands developed its own individual language.
These five language groups, or language families, which we have mentioned here are only a few of the major language families from around the world. There are many more. You should also note that each major language family has several smaller families within it.
选项
答案
individual language
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/oBTd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
SuccessfulLanguageLearners1Somepeopleseemtohaveaknackforlearninglanguages.Theycanpickupnewvocabulary,maste
SuccessfulLanguageLearners1.Somepeopleseemtohaveaknackforlearninglanguages.Theycanpickupnewvocabulary,mast
SuccessfulLanguageLearners1.Somepeopleseemtohaveaknackforlearninglanguages.Theycanpickupnewvocabulary,mast
Thereisnohierarichyamongcultures.PeoplethinkthelanguagesofbackwardgroupsarelackingComplexity.
CrimeCyclesThroughouttheYearCrimehasitsowncycles,amagazinereportedsomeyearsage.Policerecordsthatwerestudied
CrimeCyclesThroughouttheYearCrimehasitsowncycles,amagazinereportedsomeyearsage.Policerecordsthatwerestudied
CrimeCyclesThroughouttheYearCrimehasitsowncycles,amagazinereportedsomeyearsage.Policerecordsthatwerestudied
随机试题
Themostpowerfulstormsonourplanethavegrownsubstantiallystronger.Almostfortyyears’worthofhurricanesatelliteimage
在下纵隔内,食管前面邻接()
A.零级预防B.一级预防C.二级预防D.三级预防E.四级预防脑卒中患者的康复属于
A.人虱 B.恙螨 C.鼠蚤 D.蜱 E.白蛉恙虫病立克次体的传播媒介是
下列哪个位置一般不发生血管神经性水肿
患儿,5岁。舌苔花剥,经久不愈,状如"地图"。病机多为( )
硝酸甘油扩张血管作用的不良反应不包括()
香港特别行政区行政长官在下列何种情况下必须辞职?
关于抵债资产管理的说法正确的有()。
设方程,求常数a的值。
最新回复
(
0
)